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5 things I learnt from Novembers Nablopomo

So, it’s 1 December. I have just finished the month long Nablopomo Challenge. Here’s 5 things I learnt from the experience.

Just Start

You cannot achieve anything unless you start. Sometimes it takes a few “starts” but it’s the most important thing to keep doing. Keep starting. But don’t forget to also finish something!

If you fail to plan you don’t have to plan to fail, permanently

I had always read about Nanowrimo and the other challenges out there. But I had always talked myself out of it. No time. Will not keep up the challenge. I need to plan for it. This time around I just signed up. Found the page of prompts. And followed that plan mostly. So don’t let the lack of your own plan stop you from starting. Sometimes you need to take an existing plan and use it. Until such time you build the habit or discipline for yourself.

Don’t do it for others, do it for yourself.

My intention for this challenge was to get into the habit of writing daily. Usually I would start off with grand plans. How many followers can I attract? How will I build traffic? How will I publicise my content on so many platforms etc? What will my content be focused on? All those thoughts had stopped me from starting previously. If I couldn’t get a blog platform with thousands of followers – was it worth doing it? But the thing is, if I couldn’t even bring myself to commit to writing. Getting followers or blog traffic wouldn’t really matter. Writing in itself is a personal journey or exercise. If you doing it for followers and site traffic to start with. You are sunk!

Hello. Is it me you’re looking for?

As you can see. There was a flurry of followers in the beginning. And then. There was just me and my writing!

Let go and let flow

Sometimes writers block hits you. Just as in life there are obstacles, setbacks or challenges. Sometimes holding onto the obstacle slows you down or stops you completely. Sometimes you just have to just redirect with the obstacle, go with its flow or go in the direction it takes you. Till such time you get your own mojo back and can then get back on your own course. But the thing is, don’t let it stop you. The first writer’s block I hit was in week 1. I would have never made it to the end if I had stopped then.

Eating the elephant

Sometimes a goal can seem like an overwhelming thing to be achieved. But the only way to achieve it is to get through the incremental steps it takes to get there that is, eating the elephant one bite at a time. This writing challenge, at the outset, seemed like a huge task. What? Writing every day for a whole month? I could easily have gotten caught up in my head. Instead of focusing on the while month that was ahead. I just focused on the goal for that day. That one blog post for that day. It seemed less overwhelming and more achievable to meet the day’s goal. And before I knew it, November was done and dusted and a blog post was done every day of the working week!

And the bonus. The achievement of a goal leads to the setting of other goals. Now, onto my next challenge for December!